Training with Tristen Baroni: Flexions, pt. 1

In the exercise I’m doing things are slow and you really get a chance to be in the moment without too many moving parts, which in terms of learning is the best way to begin to understand something for most people. Aside from that, this really allows you to let your horse search. What do I mean by search? I mean I want my horse looking for solutions and turning loose rather than responding/reacting out of fear. Maybe you’re having some trouble with your horse or maybe you’re scared of him or he’s scared of you… It really could be any number of things, since for many reasons horses are far more sensitive than we are, but mostly for the fact that they still have to survive. They are a prey animal and if you aim to get them helping you, it’s something you need to understand.

Doing flexions this way allows the horse to try things while you wait until he tries/finds the correct thing. If you think about it, most any time you and your horse are not getting along it’s because he’s doing something you don’t like or not doing something you want him to be doing. So why not get him searching for solutions and teach him to fulfill the roles you need, as well as allow him to learn and teach you in turn to be more sensitive and in tune to your horse?

It’s possible that to accomplish this, it just takes a little looking inside ourselves. It’s not always going to be pretty and sometimes you’re going to need to change some things, but you know what? That’s ok because you can do it, all you have to do is search. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.

About Tristen Baroni

I enjoy working with horses and people. It affords me the opportunity to constantly learn and improve my horsemanship skills and also grow as an individual.
Horses are truly remarkable in the way they are and what they are capable of. I’m trying to get these...